Rant!

[glorybells]

Sorry, guys, but this is a rant about a PITA buyer.  I sold two items to a buyer late last Friday.  We had a weekend, followed by a postal holiday yesterday.  This morning I get an irate message from the buyer wanting to know why her items haven’t been shipped yet!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I don’t know what she expected me to do, but when this is concluded, she’s going on my BBL, although I have considered just cancelling the transaction and putting her on my BBL NOW, because if she’s already griping about the shipping, who knows what other problems she’ll cause!

[bigdeals.etc]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

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Exaggerated from the reality of 1 or 2 packages to 6 other sellers!

Or those "others" were located closer to the buyer cutting back on transit time, offered faster shipping services (and charged the buyer for it), were from a retailer like Amazon that has their own delivery service or Staples that contracts out to small local delivery companies for faster order fulfillment, etc.

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You reminded me of another OT story of a buyer who kept getting mad at me when their item got returned to me and I suspected that their town doesn't have USPS door to door mail delivery. After days of back/forth of them flying off the handle claiming they get tons of PO mail everyday... I find out they meant UPS, Amazon, and Walmart carriers. A troublesome call to their PO (with a nice Post Master) confirmed that my buyer was an idiot... they don't have mail delivery to homes in that town.

[bossesale77]

Just wait till Amazon starts offering free same day delivery by drone, the nitwits will then assume that if Amazon can do it then eBay sellers should be able to as well.

[coffeebean832]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

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You reminded me of another OT story of a buyer who kept getting mad at me when their item got returned to me and I suspected that their town doesn't have USPS door to door mail delivery. After days of back/forth of them flying off the handle claiming they get tons of PO mail everyday... I find out they meant UPS, Amazon, and Walmart carriers. A troublesome call to their PO (with a nice Post Master) confirmed that my buyer was an idiot... they don't have mail delivery to homes in that town.

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Oh my gosh- I had that same buyer last year! The local post office said that buyer calls them all the time to complain to them about not receiving mail and packages- but really the buyer is just lazy and doesn't want to go retrieve their mail. 🙄

[bigdeals.etc]

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@me298530 wrote:

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

bought on a Sunday morning and that evening asked if I shipped yet.

Actually since the nearest post box to me has a 9am pickup, I can often honestly say it is in the mailstream.

I can't get it back from the box after all.

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OH!

Maybe my buyer had something like that too and expects Sunday shipping?. Still, I don't mail on Sundays, Saturdays yes.

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I remember one time I got a negative from a buyer for this. I messaged the buyer about post office not running on sundays and holidays. Their literal response “I don’t care.”

[sin-n-dex]

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@glorybells wrote:

Sorry, guys, but this is a rant about a PITA buyer.  I sold two items to a buyer late last Friday.  We had a weekend, followed by a postal holiday yesterday.  This morning I get an irate message from the buyer wanting to know why her items haven’t been shipped yet!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I don’t know what she expected me to do, but when this is concluded, she’s going on my BBL, although I have considered just cancelling the transaction and putting her on my BBL NOW, because if she’s already griping about the shipping, who knows what other problems she’ll cause!

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Some people live in their own bubble. I'd have replied "you purchased at this time on Friday night and then we had a long weekend, I have shipped your items / will be shipping your items."

I would get lots of such irate messages since I don't ship very fast being in Canada and using US Post. I just send a note after they purchase (within about 24 hours) and tell them what's up about shipping from Canada and when they can expect their item to ship. Occasionally I get replies wanting more info, but I rarely get irate messages (except the odd goofball that gripes that he can't wait 3 days for me to ship his coin, and no excuse about why it's needed right away... every once in a while something sells for a project or presentation and the time matters).

C.

[a_c_green]

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@bigdeals.etc wrote:

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@me298530 wrote:

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

bought on a Sunday morning and that evening asked if I shipped yet.

Actually since the nearest post box to me has a 9am pickup, I can often honestly say it is in the mailstream.

I can't get it back from the box after all.

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OH!

Maybe my buyer had something like that too and expects Sunday shipping?. Still, I don't mail on Sundays, Saturdays yes.

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I remember one time I got a negative from a buyer for this. I messaged the buyer about post office not running on Sundays and holidays. Their literal response “I don’t care.”

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I kind of hate to post this because it will sound like I'm defending the OP's knucklehead buyer, which I'm not, but yes, the PO does run on Sundays and holidays, or else there would be nothing to deliver the next day. Only the front lobby is closed outside of business hours. 

In fact, I used the Self Serve Kiosk (SSK) to scan in a couple of packages on Monday morning (Labor Day) yesterday and put them in the drop chute. By Monday afternoon the bin had been emptied and the packages scanned again (the real Acceptance scan following the provisional Acceptance by the SSK). It passed through the regional sort facility just after midnight: 

...so basically, if you can get the package out of your hands and in to the post office, regardless of whether it's a weekend or holiday, you can benefit by doing so. Unfortunately there are some buyers out there who expect this every time, even on weekends, and unfortunately the OP has found one of those.

[downunder-61]

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@glorybells wrote:

Sorry, guys, but this is a rant about a PITA buyer.  I sold two items to a buyer late last Friday.  We had a weekend, followed by a postal holiday yesterday.  This morning I get an irate message from the buyer wanting to know why her items haven’t been shipped yet!!!  I couldn’t believe it!  I don’t know what she expected me to do, but when this is concluded, she’s going on my BBL, although I have considered just cancelling the transaction and putting her on my BBL NOW, because if she’s already griping about the shipping, who knows what other problems she’ll cause!

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Ah yes, the buyer who purchased today, want's it yesterday and will find an issue tomorrow !!

[dbfolks166mt]

What country are they in?? Is your transporter not working or is the item to large to fit on the pad? 😁

[chapeau-noir]

@a_c_green   Yes, mail always moves, but unfortunately two of the post offices that I use that have chutes large enough to take packages on off hours essentially nail those chutes shut on 3-day weekends.  So depending on the postal station and their service, shipping out on a holiday can be tough - it's crazy. 

Edit:  OMG, I just saw the McHenry, IL in your example - my cousin the brewer lives in McHenry - he's kind of a local treasure.

@bigdeals.etc  - Mr/Ms "I don't care" doesn't sound old enough to use ebay lol - are they still in the 7th grade or just in Basementland?

[glorybells]

Unfortunately, that’s not an option here.  We don’t have self serve kiosks, or any other way to mail a package (a stamped letter, yes, but nothing else) unless the post office is actually open.

[bigdeals.etc]

Yea, I recall their account had a photo linked and they were clearly of the younger variety. Got the neg scrubbed long ago tho. So in the end, I didn’t care neither.

[inhawaii]

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@alcoforever wrote:

I would send her a calm message something like this:

Dear Buyer, 

You bought and paid for the items late Friday evening after the post office closed.   Saturday and Sunday were weekends and Monday, Labor Day, was a postal holiday.   My plan was to ship your items today, Tuesday.

Do you want me to  cancel the transaction or should I go ahead and ship your items?

If she comes back with more ranting, I would cancel, problem with buyer's address.  Otherwise, ship.

Sincerely, Seller

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Can i hire you to write to my customers?   😉

[a_c_green]

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@glorybells wrote:

Unfortunately, that’s not an option here.  We don’t have self serve kiosks, or any other way to mail a package (a stamped letter, yes, but nothing else) unless the post office is actually open.

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Yeah, I understand. I was kind of trying to thread the needle with my reply, to say that the wheels do keep turning behind the scenes, but not that it's possible to take advantage of that everywhere.

There are all kinds of problems that can arise, from lack of a Self Serve Kiosk (not mandatory for dropoffs, but a convenience), to a staff that doesn't have anyone in the building, to a package that won't fit in the drop chute anyway, or a drop chute that's jammed because some knucklehead tried to shovel in 50 packages after hours. (I always try the drop chute mechanism first, before scanning in anything with the SSK, but I have still had times when my package was the one that choked the chute. That's really annoying.)

[inhawaii]

I just wanted to share this.

I know the postal service works differently in  different cities.

In my city they deliver packages on Sundays.

Package delivery only. No mail delivery. They wont pick up your mail and any packages from you.  

This past Monday was a holiday. I was expecting a package. 

I wondered if they would deliver my package on a Federal holiday, like they do on Sundays.

Sure enough, package delivered. 

[gjs_16]

In all fairness our mail does travel Saturdays, granted you may not have next day shipping and you're allowed to ship within your given time frames, however not all buyers necessarily agree with that.